The fire has burned 36,000 acres in Los Angeles County, destroyed or damaged more than 10,000 buildings, displaced tens of thousands of residents and claimed at least 10 lives. By noon Friday, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection had
shown Only 3% of the Eaton Fire, 35% of the Kenneth Fire, 37% of the Hearst Fire, and 8% of the Pacific Palisades Fire were contained.
Seemingly unstoppable, the Palisades Fire started Tuesday, destroying homes, businesses, schools, other structures Similarly, will be displayed Palisades Village, an outdoor shopping mall developed by Rick Caruso, was left largely untouched. reported SF gate.
The mall may have survived because Caruso, a former minister of water and power who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2022, did not leave the fate of the building up to the city. Mayor Karen Bass is active throughout Africa. And the fire department recently had its budget cut in favor of diversity over quality.
According to Caruso told The New York Times on Tuesday night that a private fire brigade was dispatched to the area to protect the mall he owns and nearby homes.
“This is a window into systemic problems in the city.”
Taking matters into his own hands seems to have worked, but after all, shopping malls still exist — Caruso
said The Los Angeles Times reported that Palisades Village, which opened in 2018, is still suffering some damage.
Caruso criticized the city for dropping the ball on infrastructure, especially water supply.
Within hours of the initial spread of the fire, the first two of three 1 million-gallon municipal storage tanks that provide water to fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades and other areas ran dry. The third bottle was reportedly ejected by Wednesday morning.
“There's no water in the hydrants,” Caruso said. “The firefighters are there. [in the neighborhood]and there's nothing they can do — we have neighborhoods burning, homes burning, businesses burning. …That shouldn't happen. ”
Los Angeles City Councilmember Tracy Park similarly slammed the water crisis, saying Wednesday that “the chronic underinvestment in Los Angeles' public infrastructure and public safety partners is clear and on full display over the past 24 hours.” said.
DWP Chief Executive Janice Quiñones said the three tanks on top of the Palisades “help relieve pressure on the fire hydrants on the hills within the Palisades, because we have a lot of water on the mains. That's because they were forcing it.” was being used… could not fill the tank fast enough. ”
“This is a door to systemic problems in the city, not just mismanagement, but outdated infrastructure,” Caruso said.
“Budget cuts have negatively impacted the department's ability to maintain its core operations.”
“Our mayor is overseas, our city is on fire, and we don't have the resources to put out the fires,” says former mayoral candidate.
said KTTV-TV. “It's like we're in a third world country.”
Several months ago, Bass apparently thought it would be a good idea to cut the city's fire department's budget.
Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia
Confirmed In October, Bass and the City Council announced a $17.6 million reduction in LAFD's budget for this fiscal year.
Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of the Los Angeles Times,
said Fox News Digital Thursday: “The mayor wanted $23 million.” [cut]as I understand it, she got $17.8 million. But I think that's kind of a really bad decision, especially with water and fire, and I see the end result of that devastation. ”
LA Fire Chief Kristen Crowley
noticed The Dec. 17, 2024 report said, “Budget cuts have negatively impacted the department's ability to maintain core operations such as technology and communications infrastructure, payroll processing, training, fire protection, and community education.” are.
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